Ely Trail Toddle
19 August 2007. Leader: Alastair Rayment. This ride particularly appealed as it gave everyone a chance to see how the new Ely Trail route was progressing. The Ely trail is a 13 km cycle route linking Cardiff Bay with the Museum of Welsh Life in St Fagans, through the Ely and Fairwater districts of Cardiff. The aim is to provide a safer path for families and commuters in Western Cardiff to travel into the city and explore the beautiful countryside. At times, we rode through woodland and meadows where wildflowers, insects and birds could be clearly seen.
It was thoroughly enjoyable as not only was it surprisingly dry but the only mishap was my two(!) punctures which Alastair and Eli helped me with. I have since bought a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres as recommended by Alastair so hopefully I won't be slowing down the group anymore.
We started by cycling through Riverside and the new Sports Village, then onto Leckwith and past the Canton Sanatorium. Travelling over the railway line, we continued through Waungron Road and the picturesque Fairwater fields until we emerged at St Fagans where we ate the delicious food and had a wander around the grounds of the museum.
There is still plenty of room for improvement on this route because the barriers are a major inconvenience. Travelling between Leckwith and Canton we had to admit defeat as despite the adjacent Cardiff Council cycle route signage, it was impossible to manoeuvre any of the 9 bicycles through the bizarre barrier forcing us to continue until we found a suitable entrance to the estate.
It was also difficult to use the barriers linking Fairwater to the entrance to the St Fagans fields as bikes are required to be pushed through in an upright position on their rear wheel, making it impossible for wheelchair users or those using the adapted Pedal Power bikes to get through the narrowing.
Overall we all had a wonderful trip which benefited from Alastair's knowledge of the area due to his experiences as a Sustrans Ranger. Returning we rode through St Fagans, Danescourt and rejoined the Taff Trail at Hailey Park, looking forward to future visits to this under-used gem of a trail.
Germaine Walsh